The general idea of an interactive system, wherein individuals respond to a broadcast signal, has already been recognized in the early seventies of the last century, and thus has been developed at the same time when the first video games appeared on the market. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,789,136 to Haith et al., issued Jan. 29, 1974, describes an electronic system whereby television viewers may interact with a broadcast television signal for educational purposes, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,745,468 to Von Kohorn, issued May 17, 1988, teaches an interactive system wherein an evaluation is made as to the correctness and speed of responses made by a plurality of individuals at remote locations.
Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 5,841,980 to Waters et al., issued Nov. 24, 1998, describes a system for communication networks in multi-user applications. The system is designed to overcome bandwidth limitations and thus facilitate large-scale national participation in multiple user applications over a computer network. U.S. Pat. No. 5,890,963 to Yen, issued on Apr. 6, 1999, discloses a system for maintaining continuous and progressive game play in a computer network, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,964,660 to James et al., issued Oct. 12, 1999, also teaches a networked multi-player game. These games are examples for computer games designed for use by and between interactive computer users. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 6,012,984 to Roseman, issued Jan. 11, 2000, describes a system for providing large arena games over computer networks.
In light of these developments, it is not surprising that the ideas of video gaming and interactive gaming went hand in hand, and eventually lead to the creation of a new and exciting market, namely on-line computer gaming. The rapid growth of the Internet network, which by now has achieved the status of an almost omnipresent medium, provides not only the basis, but also the boost for the constant developments in on-line computer gaming. During the last couple of years, on-line computer gaming has gained increasing popularity, and different Gaming Service Providers (GSP) have established themselves on the Internet network. On-line computer gaming is fast becoming a major money generating competitive virtual sport with tournament organizations and ranking services dedicated to providing the on-line community with the latest information and current rankings of global Internet gamers and game players. An interactive game server and on-line community forum is for example described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,339,761 to Sparks II, issued Mar. 5, 2002.
The tentative use of an interactive computer game to publicize a new movie also demonstrates a new potential use of on-line gaming in advertising. The interactive computer game was set up to allow the user to explore the set of the movie, meet major characters, and provide feedback to the directors on the potential outcome of the story while the film was still in production. It is very possible that directors and studios will use such interactive games in order to test the market's receptiveness to new story concepts. It is conceivable that a much better advertising campaign could be run through the net and an interactive on-line computer game than could ever be run with conventional means.
Computer gaming is constantly growing. Today thousands of players are playing on-line all around the world. Many people stereotype this group as techno kids only, but this could not be more wrong. Both females and males of all ages can be found daily trying to out-think, out-maneuver, or just having a good time on-line. On the Eve of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3Expo), the world's largest trade event showcasing computer and video games and related products, a new survey by Peter D. Hart Research Associates, Inc., has found that three-in-five Americans age six or older, or about 145 million people, say they routinely play computer or video games, and that nearly half of these game players are female. However, as illustrated in the example above, interactive on-line computer gaming will blur the line between games and other entertainment or communication media, and the avenues explored in the development of on-line gaming might well break new ground for interactive Internet applications in all areas of business relations and social life.
According to The Forester Report dated August 2000, pervasive gaming goes mainstream, and Internet-connected consoles powered by broadband networks are advancing. As a result, pervasive gaming will appeal to a mass-market audience and generate $26 billion in revenue by 2005, with an estimated number of 43.5 million connected consoles. However, under today's model, while the developments in broadband network technology are very promising, uptake via gaming consoles will be limited due to the difficulty with a proper broadband installation of gaming consoles. It is necessary to exploit the evolution of the two emerging technologies, namely increased residential broadband access and the technical advancements relating to gaming consoles and interactive on-line gaming, in unison. Therefore, it is highly advantageous to provide a suite of tools for providing gaming services over broadband access networks. In this context, it is of advantage to utilize the concepts of thin client computing. The benefit of this approach is its ability to adapt to the individual information technology requirements of each user, as well as its ability to seamlessly integrate into traditional client/server computing environments. With the right combination of hardware and software, the benefits offered by a gaming service provider can be adapted for each type of user, while retaining the full potential of the gaming console connected to the broadband network.